Trees save more than 850 lives a year and help lower the risk of respiratory diseases every year.

A new study in the Environmental Pollution journal found that trees help alleviate the symptoms of around 670,000 people per year with acute pulmonary distress.

Researchers from the U.S. Forest Services discovered the restorative benefits of trees, which confirms the traditional ecological role of trees and plants in absorbing carbon dioxide thereby decreasing air pollution.

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Trees convert polluted air, which is far more prevalent in urban areas than rural areas, into clean oxygen vital to the survival of human beings and animals alike.

Nitrogen dioxide, ozone, sulfur dioxide and particulate matter are the four specific pollutants linked to pulmonary, cardiac, vascular and neurological diseases. These diseases result in thousands of deaths every year.

Alleviating air pollution was found to increase the average air quality by less than one percent. Although the figure seems small, that amount can potentially save a lot of lives.

Dave Nowak, co-author of the study, said they found that in general, the greater the tree cover, the greater the pollution removal, and the greater the removal and population density, the greater the value of human health benefits.

Since more than 80 percent of Americans live in urban areas, the study confirms what many researchers and environmentalists already know -- urban forests are extremely essential.

Community and city parks should not only be seen as sanctuaries from the relentless stress of city life, but as important contributors to the survival of urban populations.

Tree cover in the United States is estimated at 34.2 percent, varying across each state. It ranges from a mere 2.6 percent in North Dakota to a significantly high coverage of 88.9 percent in New Hampshire. 

Tagsrespiratory disease, pulmonary disease, restorative trees